Oops there goes another allies’ rights. Obama is back peddling after the US was caught spying on France. A French newspaper said the NSA swept up 70.3 million French phone records in a 30-day period. France has summoned the U.S. ambassador, Charles Rivkin, to explain and called the practice "totally unacceptable."
The U.S. is reviewing its intelligence gathering to strike a "balance between the legitimate security concerns that our citizens have and the privacy concerns that we and our allies have as well about some of these alleged intelligence activities." Which really means nothing. It’s a rationalization for violating the US Constitution and spying on anyone they want whenever they want. More revelations thanks to the American whistleblower and constitutional hero, Edward Snowden
Let’s not forget how the US Intelligence agency sold the RCMP the Promis software for keeping track of it’s files. It had a Trojan horse in it that gave the agency access to all the RCMP files. Isn’t it ironic that they didn’t even change the name of the tracking program for the new software that tracks all our medical records in BC. This gives the NSA direct access to all our medical records. Civil liberty is under fire.
To be completely fair here, the fact that it happens is not news, only that they have been caught at it. And the French are no shrinking violets in this regard, they are very well known for their "economic intelligence" efforts. Which is to say, French business and industry have the full benefit of the French government's intelligence services to assist them in the marketplace.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidblair/100242400/france-is-shocked-shocked-i-tell-you-that-america-would-spy-on-its-allies/
The difference would appear to be not that both spy on the other, but that the USA has the NSA and it's budget, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and Silicon Valley on our side, therefor tend to "win" a lot more. And of course the French will never be happy about that, but when it comes to the French and losing, one would think they'd at least be used to it by now.
It’s not about winning and losing. Throwing civil liberty out the window is wrong period. That is what we need to confront. The NSA are out of control and the fact that Obama is hunting Snowden for telling the truth shows how corrupt Obama is as well.
ReplyDeleteYou and I both know we are allowed only what civil liberty is required to support the fiction that we have any at all. And that power grows ever stingier with even that amount as time goes by.
ReplyDeleteThe NSA was never under control to begin with. It's unfortunate that it takes a Snowden to condemn himself to exile to know what's going on. While I get the penchant for secrecy on the part of intelligence organizations, it is pretty much an operational requirement, but I also say, "If I pay for it, you have to tell me what you are doing with the money. I am not going to trust you blindly".
And to be honest I don't know that it's possible to reconcile those two positions.
I don’t think the two positions are reconcilable either. The fact that they are even considering charging Snowden but not the NSA is insane. Violating their oath of office to defend the constitution and throw away civil liberty is not an operational requirement. They say it is but anyone with a brain can see through that lie just like the many others.
ReplyDeleteThe intelligence community is deeply involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. That is not an operational requirement even though they claim it is. Killing their own people in false flag attacks in Operation Northwoods or on the USS Liberty is not an operational requirement either. It is treason. The intelligence community are the traitors to liberty not Snowden.
I do not see him as a traitor either.
DeleteI was speaking of secrecy as an operational requirement to do real intelligence work, not of the use of it to do unlawful or unconstitutional acts.
Israel frequently uses "false flag", in that Israeli agents will often pretend to be from another country that an Arab would be willing to pass information to, when they would not be willing to do so for Israel. This an acceptable use of the false flag concept. "By way of deception shalt thou do war".
The examples you cite are not acceptable. The Tonkin Gulf Incident was another example of such. Using false flag to deceive the public or whip up support for actions the puppet masters have already decided to do is bullshit anyway, whether there are casualties or not.